KINGSTON, N.Y. -- A turkey vulture spent two days hanging upside down in a tree, tangled in fishing line, before it was rescued by members of the Kingston Fire Department and wildlife rehabilitator Annie Mardiney.

"It was in a tree on Hudson Street, way high up," Mardiney said on Monday.

She said the bird was stuck for two days before someone called city police on Sunday. Police then called her because they knew most birds are protected species and they keep a list of local wildlife rehabilitators.

Mardiney, who is licensed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the caller originally reported the trapped bird was an eagle.

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Kingston Fire Chief John Reinhardt said his department was called at 11:50 a.m. Sunday and sent its ladder truck to the scene. He said firefighters, using the ladder, removed a section of tree limb, placed the bird in a net and turned it over to Mardiney.

The firefighters on the scene were Capt. David Allen and James Berardi, Nick Cologero and Brian Timbrouck, the chief said.

Mardiney said the firefighters were a bit nervous about retrieving the wild raptor from the tree but that she told them, "Just keep the beak away from your faces. That's all you've got to do."

When the bird finally was retrieved, it was obvious it had been tangled in fishing line that it probably picked up on shore of the Hudson River or nearby, Mardiney said.

"It (the line) had one foot completely wrapped around like a tourniquet, deep into its toe and foot," Mardiney said. She said the line also had trapped part of the vulture's tail feathers, so it ended up upside down, dangling and spinning with one leg, its head and its wings free.

The bird's middle toe on the trapped foot was "basically amputated" by the fishing line, Mardiney said. She said the bird, which she believes is a female, was lucky and is now resting at her Rosendale home.

Mardiney said she plans to take the vulture to the Newburgh Veterinary Hospital to see if there is additional damage to its leg.

She said as long as the bird can be rehabilitated, it will be released once it is healed.

As for the fishing line, Mardiney said many injuries like that suffered by the vulture could be avoided if fishermen were more careful.